"Lord of the Flies", which was written by William Golding in the 1950's, is a story of a group of young boys stranded on a tropical island with no adults. This was paradise to the young boys but soon havoc and fear controls the island. William Golding uses five main characters and symbols to reveal the reality of civilization and I am going to find out if William Golding uses symbolism to reveal the main themes of his novel.
One of the main characters in the novel is Ralph and the symbol, which he is associated, is the conch. The conch is a large shell which Piggy, another main character of the novel, finds and explains that it can be used as a horn if a small hole is made in the side of it. With the conch, Ralph blows it and everyone stranded on the island comes around towards the sound of the horn. With everyone crowded around, Ralph and Piggy tell everyone what the situation is and that the conch is used to show who can talk and only the person with the conch can speak. The kids on the island want a leader and Ralph gets voted to be leader and starts talking to the other kids about what they are going to do. Already rules have been made and the conch symbolizes civilization as there are rules and laws in our civilization and with the conch, these rules are kept to. Although there have been rules made, they are disobeyed and soon no one cares about the conch and civilization is lost.
Another character in the book is Piggy who finds the conch and tells Ralph that it can be used as a horn. Although Piggy found the horn, his glasses are more important in the book than the conch. Piggy's glasses symbolize hope as they are used to light the fire to make a smoke signal for any passing ships or aircraft. Piggy's glasses also represent order and democracy on the island and Piggy's constant polishing and cleaning of them shows his desire for clear-sightedness and civilization on the island.